Perpetrators have dubbed the violent practice as the "knockout game," in which young people try to randomly knock out strangers with one punch. Recent attacks in New York, New Haven, Connecticut, Washington DC and suburban Philadelphia have raised concerns across the country.

The violence is not new, though. In 2011, St Louis had a rash of similar incidents, one of which led to the death of a Vietnamese immigrant. Some of the assaults are recorded and posted on social media by the attackers.

The attacks in New York have racial overtones because the suspects are black and the victims have been Jewish. In New Haven, police spokesman David Hartman said police are investigating six incidents in the past month as part of the knockout trend. "I think the fact that this has been labeled a game is sickening," Hartman said. "This is not a game. This is violent."

US President Barack Obama welcomed the deal, saying it included "substantial limitations which will help prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon". Iran agreed to give better access to inspectors and halt some of its work on uranium enrichment. But Iranian negotiators insisted they still had a right to nuclear power.

Tehran denies repeated claims by Western governments that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. It insists it must be allowed to enrich uranium to use in power stations. The deal comes just months after Iran elected Hassan Rouhani - regarded as a relative moderate - as its new president, in place of the hardline Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Mr Rouhani said the deal would "open up new horizons". After four days of negotiations, representatives of the so-called P5+1 group of nations - the US, the UK, Russia, China, France and Germany - reached an agreement with Iran in the early hours of Sunday.

The specifics of the deal have yet to be released, but negotiators indicated the broad outlines:

• Iran will stop enriching uranium beyond 5%, the level at which it can be used for weapons research, and reduce its stockpile of uranium enriched beyond this point

• Iran will give greater access to inspectors including daily access at Natanz and Fordo nuclear sites

• In return, there will be no new nuclear-related sanctions for six months

• Iran will also receive sanctions relief worth about $7 billion (£4.3 billion) on sectors including precious metals

US Secretary of State John Kerry said the agreement would make the region safer for its allies, including Israel. But the Israeli government criticised the deal and said Israel did not feel bound by it.

"We awoke this morning to a new reality. A reality in which a bad deal was signed with Iran. A very bad deal," Bennett stated on his Facebook page. "This bad deal gives Iran exactly what it wanted: a significant easing of the sanctions while retaining the most significant parts of its nuclear program." Bennett emphasized the long-term implications of the deal, stating that "if a nuclear suitcase blows up five years from now in New York or Madrid, it will be because of the deal that was signed this morning."

The remarks provide a telling rebuttal to claims by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, an alleged moderate, that "Israel is only concerned about its own interests, and it does not think about the interests of the world." Bennett also vowed that Israel will not take the news lightly. "There is still a long campaign ahead of us," he continued. "We will continue to act in every possible way."

"It is important that the world knows: Israel will not be committed to a deal that endangers its very existence," Bennett concluded. Those comments come soon after the Jewish Home party head made similar statements in an interview with Army Radio, declaring that Israel is not bound by the deal.

"Israel is not engaged by the Geneva accord," he said, in a statement to Army Radio. "Iran is threatening Israel and Israel has the right to defend itself."

Along with the creation of the zone in the East China Sea, the defence ministry released a set of aircraft identification rules that must be followed by all planes entering the area, under penalty of intervention by the military.

Aircraft are expected to provide their flight plan, clearly mark their nationality, and maintain two-way radio communication allowing them to "respond in a timely and accurate manner to the identification inquiries" from Chinese authorities. "China's armed forces will adopt defensive emergency measures to respond to aircraft that do not cooperate in the identification or refuse to follow the instructions," according to the ministry. The zone became operational as of 10:00 am Saturday.

Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said in late October that the repeated incursions were a threat to peace and fell in a "grey zone (between) peacetime and an emergency situation". A few days earlier, the Chinese defence minister warned Japan that any bid to shoot down its drones would constitute "an act of war".

A 3,000-seat outdoor theatre in a park in downtown Tokyo, near the parliament, was not enough to contain everyone who came on Thursday to denounce government plans to considerably broaden the definition of classified information. According to organizers’ estimates, about 10,000 people crowded shoulder-to-shoulder in the aisles of the theater and outside of it, holding banners that read: “Don't take away our freedom.”

The adoption of the law, proposed by the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, would enable the authorities to put civil servants responsible for information leaks behind bars for up to 10 years. This would seriously threaten the freedom of the press, as Japanese media would face serious problems gathering information on burning issues, because state employees would be reluctant to share information for fear of prosecution.

That’s why a group of Japanese journalists gathered at the Nagatacho District, close to the country’s parliament, to protest the proposed bill. Currently, long prison terms for whistleblowers only apply to those Japanese citizens who leak classified data that came from the US military.

“The definition of what will be designated as secrets is not clear, and bureaucrats will make secrets extremely arbitrarily,” TV journalist Soichiro Tahara told Japan Daily Press. Protesting journalists have submitted a petition to the Cabinet Office, calling for the bill to be scrapped.

The White House website posted a memo stating the following: My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.

Has he kept that promise? Journalists don’t think so.

Bob Schieffer, CBS News anchor and chief Washington correspondent, told The Washington Post:

"Whenever I’m asked what is the most manipulative and secretive administration I’ve covered, I always say it’s the one in office now. Every administration learns from the previous administration. They become more secretive and put tighter clamps on information. This administration exercises more control than George W Bush’s did, and his before that."

Obama’s White House is arguably the LEAST transparent administration in recent years. CBS’s Sharyl Attkisson posted a series of Tweets that blasted the Obama administration for restricting the access of photojournalists at certain presidential events, “while releasing government photos and videos of the same events”.

This administration supplies their own propaganda photos and videos; why would they want journalists coming in there and interfering? The White House Correspondents Association and 38 news organizations sent a letter to White House Press Secretary Jay Carney to complain and ask for more access. The complaint was also endorsed by the White House News Photographers Association.

Every promise made by the President and Congressional democrats who supported Obamacare legislation has turned out to be a complete falsehood. But what’s critical to our future well-being is that we understand that the machinations and conjecture are not restricted solely to the health care debacle. They pervade every aspect of government on the federal, state and local level alike.

We have been lied to on every front, as evidenced by revelations just yesterday that the Bureau of Labor and Statistics completely fabricated unemployment numbers in an effort to sway the 2012 election results. This is supposed to be an impartial, non-partisan agency whose sole purpose is to calculate numbers, and even that has been hijacked by agenda-driven politicians and special interests.

Whether we’re talking about health care, the economy, personal privacy, or national security, we must assume, unless proven otherwise, that we are being lied to.

Dr Roberts goes on to say, “The whole question of the dollar’s longevity depends on the willingness of other countries to continue holding dollars and dollar denominated assets while the Federal Reserve prints a trillion dollars a year to prop up the big banks and to finance the federal budget deficit.”

There are many ways countries are currently moving away from the dollar. One of the most startling, says Dr Roberts, “China is accumulating very large quantities of gold. So, this does show that the dollar may have a limited life as the supreme currency.”

With global NSA spying scandals, if the dollar starts coming under attack in the currency markets, Dr Roberts predicts, “All of this makes it very difficult if there is a run on the dollar for the Treasury and the Federal Reserve to call up these foreign governments and say help us stop this run.” Don’t think the Fed is ever going to stop printing money because Dr Roberts contends, “They’re trapped because you can’t expect them to say let’s blow up the world right now so we don’t have a crisis in the dollar next year.”

One of the Springer publisher's journals bore the headline, "Radiant Victor meets Helpless Hollande," referring to the dramatic economic situation France finds itself in: The country is looking "into the Abyss." Beyond this blatant smear campaign, experts are noting that there is a "disengagement" of the French economy from that of Germany.

According to their analysis, Berlin has created significant advantages for the German industry with its "Hartz Reforms" - wage waivers and cuts in social spending. France has not been able to break popular resistance to these kinds of austerity programs. The German-French dichotomy has become so large that "there are growing doubts" about "whether there remains a sufficient basis for German-French cooperation," according to a recent analysis of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP).

Observers interpret France's recent decision to repatriate an important detachment of the German-French Brigade from German territory, as further evidence of erosion in the ties between the two countries. In reference to the economic and financial policy issues, Henrik Uterwedde recently noted that "doubts are growing about whether there remains a sufficient basis for German-French cooperation." These doubts have long since settled in on many other areas of policymaking - one of the results of the brachial imposition of German predominance.

Mr Grieve told the Daily Telegraph it was not restricted to "any one community" but he was referring mainly to "the Pakistani community". He said it must be made "absolutely clear" that a "favour culture" is unacceptable in Britain.

One Pakistan-born MP accused Mr Grieve of "dividing" communities. Mr Grieve told the Telegraph he would be "wary of saying" it was just a Pakistani problem, pointing out corruption was found in the "white Anglo-Saxon" community too. But he said some immigrants come to Britain from countries where corruption is "endemic".

These are societies "where they have been brought up to believe you can only get certain things through a favour culture," he said. "One of the things you have to make absolutely clear is that is not the case and it's not acceptable." Mr Grieve, Conservative MP for Beaconsfield and the government's chief legal adviser, added: "It is something as politicians we have to wake up to."

In an explosive Daily Mail survey, eight out of ten said they did not want citizens of the two countries to be handed free access to UK jobs from January 1. Ministers warn Britain will be taken to court if it ignores the Brussels edict to let the migrants in.

But the threat of big fines from the European Court of Justice was brushed off by almost two thirds of the public.

They said that – even if it meant legal sanctions – the Prime Minister should keep the restrictions in place to ‘serve the national interest’. And 80 per cent of voters say Westminster should retain the final say over who enters the country.

Only 5 per cent think Brussels should be in charge. An overwhelming 85 per cent said migration was putting too much pressure on schools, hospitals and housing. The findings of the Harris poll, conducted earlier this week, will heap further pressure on Downing Street to stop a potentially major influx from Romania and Bulgaria.

The ad reported by The Blaze contained the text: “Don’t forget your holiday stamps. You’ll find them at your nearest post office or on eBay.” And below the text were pictures of three stamps: One showed a candle holder with nine lighted candles, emblazoned with the word “Hanukkah.” Another showed an colorful symbol over an open book, above the block-type word “Kwanzaa.”

And the third, in the middle, showed — a gingerbread house. Twitter reflected the outrage of at least one eagle-eyed writer. The poster @RennaW said: “Don’t forget those three American holidays : Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and … gingerbread house.” The same poster followed with another comment: “What happened to Christmas?”

"We will not resign ourselves to imagining a Middle East without Christians," he said after meeting with patriarchs from Syria, Iran and Iraq, before calling for "the universal right to lead a dignified life and freely practice one's own faith to be respected."

The political upheaval that has swept the Arab world over the past three years has led to a rise of radical Islam, leaving minority Christians feeling threatened and sometimes forcing them to emigrate. Francis said he had spoken to the patriarchs about "those who live in the Middle East, often in small flocks, in environments marked by hostility and conflicts" and "the size of the diaspora, which is notably growing."

He said he was concerned by "the situation of Christians, who suffer in a particularly severe way the consequences of tensions and conflicts in many parts of the Middle East." "Syria, Iraq, Egypt and other areas of the Holy Land sometimes overflow with tears," he said. Amid reports Christians are being 'punished' for the actions of Western powers, some faith experts have warned that Christianity is in danger of becoming extinct in its own cradle.

Francis said he "will not rest while there are still men and women, of any religion, whose dignity is affronted, who are stripped of the basics necessary for survival, whose future is stolen, who are forced to become refugees or displaced people." He called on the patriarchs for "tireless zeal and that fraternal and paternal charity which bishops, priests and faithful look to us for, especially if they are alone and marginalised."

During the third quarter of 2013, China's foreign-exchange reserves were valued at approximately $3.66 trillion. And of course the biggest chunk of that was made up of US dollars. For years, China has been accumulating dollars and working hard to keep the value of the dollar up and the value of the yuan down.

One of the goals has been to make Chinese products less expensive in the international marketplace. But now China has announced that the time has come for it to stop stockpiling US dollars. And if that does indeed turn out to be the case, then many US analysts are suggesting that China could also soon stop buying any more US debt. Needless to say, all of this would be very bad for the United States.

For years, China has been systematically propping up the value of the US dollar and keeping the value of the yuan artificially low. This has resulted in a massive flood of super cheap products from across the Pacific that US consumers have been eagerly gobbling up.

While mainstream media focuses on what the minutes revealed about when the Fed might begin to reduce its monthly $85 billion in bond purchases, receiving scant attention is a brazen power grab boldly stated on page two of the eleven pages of minutes.

Back on October 31, wire services reported that the temporary dollar and foreign currency swap lines that had been put in place between central banks on a temporary basis during the financial crisis had been turned into standing arrangements. The Associated Press explained the action as follows: “Six of the world’s leading central banks, including the US Federal Reserve, say they will provide each other with ready supplies of their currencies on a standing basis, extending arrangements set up to steady the global financial system during post-2007 turbulence.”

In other words, without public deliberations, an action that was adopted as a temporary, emergency operation, now had become a permanent part of world finance – on the basis of minutes and details yet to be seen by Congress or the general public. Just how long will it take Congress — that body in Washington with a 9 percent approval rating from the American people — to figure out that “just trust us” has been a killer policy when it comes to Wall Street and other people’s money.